By Uzair Adam Imam
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has debunked the claims by a Nollywood actress, Halen Duru, that its personnel invaded her house on Saturday night.
EFCC has denied the claim Sunday on its official Instagram handle, describing the actress as a ‘mere publicity-seeking player, with a poorly-scripted claim’.
However, in viral bloodied video shared by the actress, Duru claimed that she was assaulted by men from the security agency.
Debunking the allegation, EFCC stated, “False and Misleading Video in Circulation on EFCC Operations. The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to an online video trending on Instagram, from the handle of a certain “@iamhelenaduru”, a self-styled actress, purporting, quite mischievously, an assault by operatives of the Commission.
“Checks by the Commission, however, flagged Helen Aduru, an upcoming actress, as a mere publicity-seeking player, with a poorly- scripted claim that has fallen flat in the face of unassailable facts available to the Commission.”
The agency further stated, “In her script, she was quick to include five names of officers she claimed came from the Cybercrime Section of the Enugu Command of the Commission. Characteristically, EFCC’s officers don’t wear name tags nor move around with bulldozer-shaped equipment to pull down security doors.
“Aduru claimed, rather strangely, that she was assisted by a little boy, to a Police Station at 3:44 am but met the station shut. It is important to note that Police Stations are not civil service ministries that “close” in the evening. Even more preposterous is the fact that she never went back, at daybreak, to lodge a complaint.
“More poignantly untenable is the fact that her purported assault of July 21, 2022, which has not been logged nearly two months later at the Police Station, is only being brought to public glare on September 2, 2022!! Such a scene could only stand in a typical Nollywood fiction series.
“Such claims by Aduru, like all other stranger-than-fiction, click-baiting, sympathy-seeking ploys, do not merit a response but for the need to avoid ‘silence is acquiescence’ stance of mischief makers. Deeper checks on the matter only showed that certain blackmailers could be bandying some known names in the Enugu Zonal Command to settle some scores.”
